Rhone, the performance lifestyle brand, appointed Tess Roering, who previously held executive leadership roles at CorePower Yoga and Athleta, and Jimmy Pitaro, ESPN chairman, to its Board of Directors.

Roering and Pitaro join Nate Checketts, CEO and co-founder of Rhone; Dave Checketts, managing partner of Checketts Partners Investment Fund; Jon Owsley, managing partner at L Catterton; Simon Hill-Norton, investor and co-founder of Sweaty Betty; and Carras Holmstead, investment partner at Palistar Capital and co-founder of Rhone, to Rhone’s Board of Directors.

“We are thrilled to announce the addition of Tess and Jimmy to Rhone’s board,” said Checketts. “As we prepare to launch our women’s collection, Tess brings incredible expertise in brand and marketing from her time at Athleta and CorePower Yoga, and Jimmy is a top industry thought leader with unmatched experience in the sports and consumer products industries. The addition of Tess and Jimmy will help bring us to new heights in 2024 and beyond.”

Roering has over two decades of experience leading brand and marketing efforts. Most recently, she was the chief commercial officer at CorePower Yoga, where reportedly she “doubled the brand’s studio count and drove 2.5x revenue growth over five years, and played a key role in the sale from L Catterton to TSG Partners and oversaw the real estate, construction, design, facilities, customer experience, and chief marketing officer responsibilities.

 Before her role at CorePower Yoga, Roering was the first head of marketing at Athleta. In her role, Roering reportedly “grew revenues from $150mm to $500mm, opened the brand’s first 100 retail stores, drove multi-channel growth by creating Athleta’s first marketing and creative platform, “Power to the She,” and propelled the brand from a catalog and web business to a true omni-channel business.”

“The Rhone team has built such a compelling performance lifestyle brand for men,” said Roering. “I am thrilled to be a part of bringing Rhone’s fantastic product and focus on mental fitness to a broader audience.”

Pitaro is an industry leader “at the intersection of media and technology, bringing decades of experience,” reported Rhone. He is the chairman of ESPN and is responsible for the ESPN business globally, including the management and supervision of the company’s portfolio of sports content, products and experiences across all of Disney’s platforms worldwide. Under his leadership, “ESPN reached creative rights agreements with the NFL, UFC, SEC, NHL, MLB, PGA Tour, NCAA, La Liga, Wimbledon and more.” He has also led ESPN to “remarkable viewership success, achieving record audience engagement across events and studio shows, plus digital and social platforms.” He has helped build ESPN into the “preeminent digital sports platform, leading initiatives like the launch of the streaming platform ESPN+ while introducing numerous technological innovations to enhance the sports fans’ experience.”

Before ESPN, Pitaro worked in various leadership positions across The Walt Disney Company, including as chairman of Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media. Before his Disney tenure, he worked at Yahoo, where he became media head. While there, he set long-term strategy and executed growth-driving initiatives for Yahoo’s media properties, including Yahoo Sports, Entertainment and Music.

“I have long admired Rhone’s commitment to quality and am honored to have been selected to the board to help drive their continued growth,” Pitaro said. “They have an impressive operation and I look forward to collaborating with other leaders to impact positive change.”

The appointment of Roering and Pitaro to Rhone’s board comes in the lead-up to the launch of Rhone’s first women’s collection, debuting in May. Roering and Pitaro will reportedly “play a pivotal role in Rhone’s continued success and be invaluable assets to the company as it enters a new chapter—bridging the gap between being a men’s brand and a brand for men and women.”

Image courtesy Rhone